Surgical incise drapes are adhesive-coated organic polymeric drapes that are applied to the patient's skin typically after applying a presurgical preparation. The practitioner makes the incision right through the drape. In this manner, on the skin surface and the incisional site, the drape physically restricts the migration of bacteria remaining after the surgical prep procedure. The incise drape provides the surgeon a sterile surface adjacent to the wound. In addition, the incise drape may be used to hold other drapes securely on the patient. Surgical incise drapes used during such surgeries have been designed to be very thin and conformable and to have high adherence to the skin so as to allow surgical skin refraction with little or no lifting of the drape along the incisional edges.
Surgical wounds can be deep and cavernous. This can make it very difficult for the surgeon to visualize the tissue. Overhead lighting can illuminate the tissue but only to a certain degree and this is often blocked by the surgeon or scrub nurse. There is a need in such surgeries for improved illumination of the tissue in and around the incision as well as illuminating the tissue of a patient in other situations (e.g., placement of an intravenous (IV) line, visualization of the IV site, etc.).